Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Page 45

EXPLOITATION OF WILD BIRDS IN ICELAND FROM THE SETTLEMENT
PERIOD TO THE 19TH CENTURY AND ITS REFLECTION IN ARCHAEOLOGY
Nesting and nesting sites of the
Eider duck
The nesting sites of Eider ducks are
always very close to the shoreline of
Iceland or its smaller islands (Hilmarsson
2000, 92). Before the ducks arrived in
spring many farmers made sure the
nesting sites were well prepared for their
arrival. An old tradition was to cover the
site with hay, grass or seaweed, especially
in gravelly landscape, as that supposedly
attracted birds to nest (Jónasson 1945,
200; Ólafsson and Pálsson 1981,128-129;
Berglund 2009, 122). Some farmers built
stone shelters for the ducks with
flagstones while others made semicircles
with raised turf strips, or dug small holes
for the ducks to sit in (table 1). Stone
shelters were built e.g. at Vigur in the
Westfjords in the 1770s and turf protected
nests in Hvalseyjar in Faxaflói
(Kristjánsson 1986, 290; Berglund 2009,
122). The nesting season usually lasts
from the beginning of May to the middle
or late June (Hilmarsson 2000, 92) and in
the 18th and 19th centuries at least, down
was partially collected at least two or three
times during incubation and then after the
birds had left with their chicks (Jónasson
1945, 200; von Troil 1961, 84; Horrebow
1966, 131; Kristjánsson 1986, 299-301).
Down cleaning
Cleaning down was a messy flea-ridden
job that was done outside or in outhouses
such as hay bams or cow sheds
(Sigurðardóttir 1985, 407 and 411;
Kristjánsson 1986, 305 and 308). No
descriptions of how eiderdown was
cleaned in medieval times have been
found but the oldest method is thought to
be cold cleaning (Ólafsson and Pálsson
1981, 322-324; Kristjánsson 1986, 304).
During cold cleaning, down was simply
dried outside in the sun and all extraneous
materials like seaweed, eggshells, grass
and dirt were picked out by hand. This
was a difficult and time consuming task
but it produced higher yields and better
down, so it fetched a higher price.
According to Kristjánsson (1986,
302-304) down harps came to Iceland in
the beginning of the 17th century, possibly
ffotn England, and around the same time
people started baking down in large pots
for cleaning. The original harp is thought
to have been made of bilge hoops fitted
with a few hemp strings (von Troil 1961,
85). Later the harps were (and still are)
made of wood and strings. Short pins of
wood or whalebone, whittled at the ends to
a chisel-like edge, are used along with the
harp (hrœlar and fantar) to pluck the
strings of the harp when the down is on top
of it. That way the down adheres to the
strings while dirt and grit falls through to
the floor (table 1). When down was baked
it was sometimes beaten with a stick
afterwards and the waste would crumble
out of it, but that was rarely good for the
down yield and lowered the price. After
baking, down was usually processed on the
harp in the same way as sun baked down
but while it was still hot (Jónasson 1945,
200-201; Kristjánsson 1986, 302-308;
Jónsson ed. 2001, 109-113; Berglund
2009, 122-124). According to The
Icelandic Historical Statistics (Jónsson and
Magnússon eds. 1997, 416-429) no
detailed information about the export of
eiderdown is recorded until after 1733 but
most likely down had been exported for a
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